Association for Multicultural Counseling and Development

Editor’s note: Information for each candidate, including biographical information, qualifications and reasons for seeking office is published below and in the December issue of Counseling Today. Online voting for all ACA, division and region elections will begin Dec. 1. The following answers are published as the candidates submitted them. They have not been edited.

AMCD DIVISION CANDIDATES

President-Elect

Noreal F. Armstrong

Hello AMCD members! I am Noreal Armstrong and I am seeking your endorsement for President Elect for the Association of Multicultural Counseling and Development. As a counselor educator and licensed professional counselor, professional development and service are strong factors of my professional identity. I have been an active member of ACA, regional, and state divisions for nine years. As a member of AMCD, I served as a member of the Awards and Bylaws committee and chair of the Strategic Planning Committee for Graduate Students and Clinicians. At the state level I served as President Elect. Serving in both capacities afforded me the opportunity to enhance my knowledge of the foundation and traditions of AMCD. During ACA, I created a “Question and Answer” project for members to gain valuable information and increase awareness of our structure, goals, and purpose. I am seeking the office of President Elect as an opportunity to continue the work I have started, add my vision and input to the leadership of the organization, and to move forward with a strategic plan for continuing the legacy of AMCD. As President, I would strive to:

Work with the current president to establish a connecting thread of goals that could expand across our years of leadership.

Develop new and creative ways to utilize the current collaborations between Divisions and Regions.

Support an increased collaboration between Regional Representatives and State chapters to enhance strategic planning for state chapters addressing multicultural concerns within our profession and communities.

Work to highlight, using various formats, the ways in which AMCD leadership has developed innovative and purposeful objectives to carry out the mission of AMCD.

Utilize the knowledge and dedication of former AMCD leaders to provide an educational foundation from which our new members and graduate students can build upon.

Taunya Marie Tinsley

I am humbled and honored to be nominated by my peers of AMCD as a candidate for President-elect. To understand my qualifications and reasons for seeking the office, my response will be framed around the Ghanaian word Sankofa that teaches “to always remember the past for therein lies the future.” I have over 25 years of professional and leadership experiences that include serving as the secretary of the Ethnic Concerns Committee of the National Association of Academic Advisors for Athletics and the secretary of the organization. Additionally, I served as the North Atlantic Regional Representative for AMCD, the president of the Pennsylvania College Counseling Association (PACCA), and the President of the Pennsylvania Counseling Association (PCA). I have collaborated with ACA to develop, facilitate, and enhance the Sports Counseling Interest Network. In 2013-2014, I served as the AMCD Newsletter Editor and am I currently serving as Chair of the AMCD Mentoring Program. Additionally, I am currently working with PCA to revive PACCA. These various opportunities to serve and advocate for culturally diverse populations were made possible by individuals and leaders who identified leadership qualities in me and took the time to provide effective mentoring. My mentors were empathic, advocates, trustworthy, optimistic, role-models who set and held high positive expectations as their mentee. After completing my Ph.D. in Counselor Education and Supervision from Duquesne University in 2005, one mentor, charged me to pay it forward and mentor those behind me by providing guidance, wisdom and knowledge that had been provided to me. As an AMCD candidate for President-elect, it is important to continue mentoring and leading the next generation to believe strongly in the values and beliefs of AMCD so they will follow along; thus, creating multicultural competent professionals and social justice advocates to take the charge that AMCD has been purposed.

Governing Council Representative

Michael Brooks

It is an honor to be nominated to serve the American Counseling Association and specifically the Association for Multicultural Counseling and Development. I have had the privilege to work within Division as Public Policy Committee Chair, Treasurer, Southeastern Regional Representative, President, and a host of committees and tasks forces. Currently, I am a Counselor Educator at North Carolina A&T State University. My collective involvement in AMCD, along with my university and private work and state association work has allowed me to better appreciate the ACA governing structure and more specifically the office of Governing Council Representative. My goal and role as Governing Council Representative is clear and positive. I will use my abilities to partner with other Division Leaders to build and sustain our Association. My record demonstrates consistent and principled leadership. I keep my commitments, hold high standards for self and others (or colleagues), and relate to others while working toward a shared goal. I am highly committed to ACMD, and the AMCD membership as well as the many clients we serve. I welcome the opportunity to represent you and participate in the functioning of the Governing Council.

Carlos P. Hipolito-Delgado

I seek the office of governing council representative to advance the interest of AMCD members on the ACA governing council. If elected governing council representative, I will operate as servant to the general membership, providing you with timely information on the happenings of the governing council, and answering to your needs and concerns. If elected governing council representative for AMCD I would

Advocate for increased fiscal and governing transparency, so that ACA and AMCD members knows how their dues are being spent and the decisions made by their elected leaders.

Ensure that issues of cultural diversity and social justice are a priority of the ACA governing council

Push the ACA Governing Council and AMCD Executive Committee to increase opportunities for the mentorship and training of future leaders from diverse cultural communities.

My years of service to ACA and AMCD make me uniquely qualified to serve as your governing council representative. I currently serve as the Parliamentarian to the ACA Governing Counsel. As Parliamentarian, I have networked with other governing council members, come to know the business and functioning of the Governing Council, and become expertly versed in Parliamentary procedure. These experiences would allow me to enter the Governing Council, not as a novice, but as an experienced member capable of impacting the direction and future of ACA. Further, having been past-president and conference coordinator of AMCD, I have been a leader within AMCD for over six years. My time as a leader of AMCD is marked by action, I initiated the latest revision of the Multicultural Social Justice Counseling Competencies and the AMCD webinar series. I am a leader who believes in action and producing results for members. If elected governing council representative I will represent you proudly and further the missions of AMCD and ACA.

Vice President, African American Concerns

Kim Lee Hughes

My name is Kim Lee Hughes and I am an Assistant Professor in the Counseling Department at The University of Texas at San Antonio. I am an author and collaborator on several book chapters and peer-reviewed articles on issues of equity, social justice, and multiculturalism. Many of my writing relationships and projects started in the AMCD Writer’s Consortium. My teaching, research, advocacy, and practice center on the empowerment of people of color, culturally affirmative counseling interventions, community activism and development, as well as social justice and multicultural training in counseling and counselor education. I am the 2017-2018 Interim Vice President of African American Concerns. I am working productively and progressively with the current AMCD Executive Board. I assembled the 2020 Wellness Task Force based on a White Paper by Dr. Courtland Lee. I have a passion for the advancement of service within AMCD and a dedication to working for the greater good within AMCD. I promise to bring my zest for justice and advocacy to address the concerns of African American members of AMCD across professional identities and regions. I want to highlight the Black Lives Matter movement on the national level, and discuss ways the counseling profession can address the mental health needs of the African American community through national partnerships in education, economics, health, criminal justice and social injustice. I currently work with the other Ethnic Vice Presidents to develop programming that fosters cross cultural mentorship. I am developing important connections and building a foundation during the interim period, and it would be an honor to continue as your Vice President of African American Concerns 2018 - 2021.